Breaking the Fast (Iftar)

"... and eat and drink until the whiteness of the day becomes distinct from the blackness of the night at dawn, then complete the fast till nighttime" (Holy Qur'an, Surah Baqarah 2:187).

The Exalted and Omniscient has clarified in this glorious verse the time to start the fast which is when the white thread can be distinguished from the black one at the time of daybreak, and the time of breaking the fast, at the end of the fast during the entire daytime till the approach of the night.

Since fast in Islam is not merely abstention from eating and drinking, but rather a transformation from a physical state to a spiritual height whereby the Muslim pleases his Maker, Islam has set certain rules for breaking the fast which are derived from the Sunnah of His greatest Prophet and his Progeny, peace and blessings be upon them, which may be enUmarated thus:

1) the invocations related to the breaking of the fast which take us from the physical state, through our fast, to a spiritual height;

2) sharing our food with the poor and the indigent, and Muslims breaking their fast with one another; and